


When Things Don't Go To Plan...

by Emory7Claire



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 03:46:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4206759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emory7Claire/pseuds/Emory7Claire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Cas have finally settled down and adopted their first child who's tenth birthday is coming up. It was Dean's brilliant idea to go camping in the backyard, but things end up not really working out.<br/>What do you do when things don't go to plan?</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Things Don't Go To Plan...

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first oneshot, so I'm sorry if it's not very good.

"Dean, I don't think this is a good idea..."

"Cas, will you relax? I've done this a hundred times before with _my_ dad."

"Yes, but when you were camping, it was in monster infested woods and you slept with a shotgun in your hand."

"Touche, but I want Alfie to have a good pre-birthday celebration. I never got to have any."

Cas sighs, shoulders dropping slightly under his loose fitting t-shirt. "I know, Dean. I know."

Cas is sitting at the kitchen island, a half-empty cup of coffee in his hand. Dean has no idea how the angel can have it with so much milk and sugar in it. Dean prefers it pitch black, like his soul. Cas insists that his soul is anything but dark, but Dean still enjoys making the joke.

"Cas, it's just a bit of fun."

"Someone could get hurt or something could go terribly wrong..."

"We have plenty of things to make sure they won't. Will you go with me this once? I want him to have a good birthday."

Cas's jaw clenches. His brow furrows as he looks away from Dean.

Dean understands why Cas is afraid. It may just be their backyard, but ever since they brought Alfie home as a two-year-old all those years ago, Cas has taken extra good care to make sure their boy is safe. Alfie hasn't gotten sick a day in his life, or broken any bones, or even had a nightmare. The moms at the local elementary school are always asking him for his secret. Cas has been using his hidden angel-ness to prevent disasters for almost a decade. It's just one of the ways that the angel shows his love for his boy. Cas reads to Alfie every night before bed. He always listens to their little boy's stories and is intrigued by every new friend or discovery Alfie goes on about. Just the smile on Cas's face when Aflie walks through the door when he comes home from school is enough to show a blind person that he loves him.

Dean just hopes Cas gives him this opportunity to show Alfie how much Dean loves him.

Just as Cas opens his mouth and is about to respond, Alfie himself comes running into the kitchen.

"Daddy Daddy Daddy!" he bounces around Dean's feet, holding up his arms, demanding to be picked up. Dean is 'Daddy'. Alfie took to calling Cas 'Papa'.

"Hey, bucko," Dean hauls the soon to be ten-year-old into his arms. "Aren't you getting a little to old to be getting picked up?"

"Aren't you getting too old to be picking me up?" Alfie retaliates with a smirk.

Dean frowns. "Cas, have you been teaching our son your sassy mannerisms?"

"I don't know what you mean, Dean," Cas smiles around his next sip of coffee.

"Daddy," Dean tuns his attention back to Alfie. "You promised to set the tent up with me an hour ago."

"I did!" Dean exclaims, holding a hand to his head to amp up the shock in his voice. "Your father made me forget."

Alfie scowls at Cas. "Papa, how could you?"

"Yeah, Papa," Dean matches their son's look at Cas.

The angel stares up at them both, clearly unamused.

"Alright you wackos," Cas sets down his coffee cup. "Let's go build the tent."

\---

"Aren't you supposed to follow the instructions?"

"Nah, the pictures are all you need," Dean explains to Alfie.

They're kneeling in the grass of the backyard, the wire frame of the tent sprawled around them in the lawn. The instructions booklet sits on Dean's knees and he's following the pictures to try and piece together how the tent works.

"Okay bud," Dean starts, running a finger over the picture. "Can you find me all the pieces marked with a letter A?"

"Sure thing, Daddy," Alfie says enthusiastically, getting up and inspecting the pieces of the frame.

Daddy. It's almost impossible to think that eight years ago, Cas and Dean had bought a home and found this bundle of joy to bring back with them. Watching Alfie grow up happy like he never got the chance to still brings tears to Dean's eyes sometimes.

Cas comes out the back door with several bottles of water and wood for their makeshift fire pit: a ring of dried up grass surrounded by oddly shaped rocks and pebbles.

"Hi, Papa!" Alfie beams at Cas as he brings Dean the parts he needs.

"Hey, darling," Cas kneels with them in the grass, setting down the waters and logs. "Need help, you two?"

"Could always use an extra pair of hands," Dean says. "Now, Alfie. Hold this piece for me- just like that..."

For the next hour, the three of them piece together the tent, holding parts for each other and singing songs to pass the time. The mood didn't drop even when Cas and Alfie started singing Disney songs.

"I think we're done," Dean announces, standing back to survey their work.

The frame is sturdy plastic and arches over a patch of ground the size of a king sized bed. It's quite possibly the best tent Dean has ever built. He couldn't be more proud.

"Uh, Dean?"

The ex-hunter turns to his angel.

Cas looks up at him, the tent instructions in his hands. "You do know that you're supposed to thread the tent canvas through the frame as you build it, right?"

Dean's eyes widen. "What?"

"It says it right here," Cas steps over to Dean, turning so they're both reading the instructions. "'Thread the tent coverage through the frame as you connect the pieces.'"

Dean curses under his breath.

"Does this mean the camping trip is over?"

Dean turns to Alfie who stares up at him with big, sad blue eyes.

"No!" Dean exclaims. "Because I have a brilliant beyond brilliant idea!"

He dashes into the house before Cas or Alfie can say anything. He returns several minutes later with several rolls of-

"Duct tape?" Cas raises an eyebrow. "You can't be serious."

"Shh," Dean shushes the angel. "Alfie, bring the tent canvas over. I'm gonna teach you about the manliest tool in the universe."

Cas rolls his eyes as Dean and Alfie get to work taping the canvas over the frame of the tent. They go through an entire roll before Dean is satisfied.

"Perfect! Cas, how's the fire coming along?"

"It's done, Dean," the angel answers.

Dean sets the blankets and pillows they brought down from the living room into the tent and joins his husband and son at the fire. The orange flames dance along the logs, reaching into the sky with arms of flame like they're trying to touch the stars that are already peeking through the darkening blue in the sky. Aflie immediately crawls over to Dean's side, leaning against his shoulder. Dean wraps an arm around him. Cas comes over and sits on Dean's other side, holding his free hand.

"Can you sing something, Daddy?" Alfie asks. "Something you used to sing to Uncle Sam when he was young."

Dean thinks a moment and then, in his best voice, he begins. " _Sister Christian how the time has come. And you know that you're the on-ly one to say... okay."_

Cas rests his head on Dean's shoulder, kissing the place where the hand print he'd scarred there decades ago still resides.

" _Where you go and what you're looking for... You know those boys don't want to play no more with yo-ou. It's true."_

Alfie sighs, relaxing into his father's arm a little more. Dean smiles around the words of the chorus. He's never felt more loved in this moment then he did any other time in his life. They stay like this as Dean goes into the next verse and chorus, content and each with their own little smile.

Right up until the ground catches on fire.

None of them had noticed the dried grass lighting up and setting the fresh green grass ablaze.

Alfie shrieks, Cas tries to stomp out the flames, and Dean grabs the little fire extinguisher he had bought the other day. When the fire was out completely, everyone was breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at each other.

"Okay," Dean says. "Perhaps a fire was a bad idea."

That's when it started raining.

"Alright, everyone inside the tent," Cas says, herding his husband and son inside as the droplets pick up.

Dean sets himself down on the pillows in the back corner of the tent, frustrated and mentally hitting himself over and over again.

"Daddy, listen!" Alfie grabs Dean's hand, bouncing on his knees. "The rain makes funny noises on the tent!"

Okay, maybe this idea wasn't a complete bust.

The rain starts coming down harder, only adding to Alfie's giggles about the pitter-patter of them on the canvas. There's a wind picking up speed, but the duct tape is holding quite well. The three of them have settled down and Alfie is now telling his Daddy and Papa the story of how rain was created, which includes several dragons, a golden donkey, and the butt fur of a rare monkey species. Dean's frustration begins ebbing away.

"And then the dragons took the hairs to the golden donkey when suddenly-" Alfie is cut off by the tent lurching sideways. The tape rips, and the canvas goes flying, leaving the three of them sitting in a pile of blankets and pillows in the pouring rain.

Cas grabs Alfie, swinging the boy up into his arms, while Dean grabs the blankets and they run inside together. They're all soaking wet by the time they reach the kitchen.

Dean drops the blankets and storms up the stairs.

"Dean!" Cas calls.

The ex-hunter ignores him. Their bedroom door slams behind him and Dean flops onto the bed, kicking off his shoes.

Just once he'd like to do something special for his son and he goes and fucks it up within two hours. Things had been so wonderful setting up the tent together and singing by the fire and listening to Alfie's story in the tent, but something just had to come around and fuck each one of them up. It's like destiny hates him or something.

Every year when Dean was younger, his birthday would come around and his father would forget. Sam would save up money or steal some from Dad's wallet to get Dean pie and some presents each year. Dean hated every time January 24th came around and his Dad forgot the day his son was born. He wants to make up for all the missed birthdays his father gave him and give Alfie an extra special time, but of course he messed it up.

Dean messes everything up.

He's still pouting when the door to the bedroom creaks open slightly.

"Daddy?" comes Alfie's soft voice.

Dean doesn't respond.

The door creaks open more and two sets of footsteps come into the room. Within a minute, Alfie is standing at the side of the bed where Dean is facing. The soon to be ten-year-old holds out a tall glass, the contents of which Dean can't make out in the dark.

"It's a chocolate milkshake... your favorite," Alfie explains. "I know you wanted me to have a good pre-birthday and you think the day was ruined, but I had a lot of fun. Can we end the day the same way?"

Dean's eyes flick from the milkshake to Alfie.

"We brought _Up,"_ Alfie adds quickly.

Dean sits up slowly, turning on the bedside lamp with a click. The soft light illuminates the little boy's blue eyes and golden hair beautifully. Dean looks up, meeting Cas's eyes that are the same gorgeous shade. The angel smiles from the end of the bed, holding up two more milkshakes and a DVD, Dean and Alfie's favorite Pixar movie.

"Alright," Dean says with a grin.

Alfie practically dive bombs him with a hug, nearly spilling the milkshake that Cas manages to grab just in time. They settle into the bed as the movie starts to play on the TV across the room, clinking their milkshake glasses together.

They laugh at the same parts of the movie, Dean pretending to be the old man and Cas imitating the dog's constant cries of "SQUIRREL". The milkshakes are drained halfway through the movie and everyone cuddles together under the comforter, Cas resting his head on Dean's shoulder and Alfie snuggling into his Daddy's side. By the time the movie ends, Cas and Alfie are both asleep and snoring softly. Dean clicks off the TV with the remote, trying not to wake anyone, and turns off the lamp.

He closes his eyes with a smile, content with the end to a very good day.


End file.
